Post on 01-Dec-2014
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New Mindset
“Rethinking your business”
Sales
Agreeing buy criteria• Find out current criteria (if any)
• Introduce your criteria with probing questions
• Reinforce your criteria with his/her value on it
• Counterbalance your uniqueness against your competitors
• Commit them to ownership
• Confirm in writing
Keeping the initiative
• Control meeting agendas
• End each meeting with their commitment to progress
• Record commitments on action by whom & by when
• Diary next meeting date
• Cross-check with phone contacts between meetings
Face to face objections
Most objections are implied needs:
• Before responding, check your body signals and think
• Reply confidently
• Ensure objection is resolved before moving on
• If benefits not yet established, shelve it
Major and minor objections
For major objections:• Prioritise• Re-state as a need• Test close
For minor objections use feel, felt, found:
• ‘I understand how you feel….’
Negotiating - PreparationMake a list of:
• Your highest and lowest acceptable objectives
• Their essential wants and needs
• Their desirable wants and needs
• Agreed cost-benefits
• Minor concessions you can trade
Negotiating - Opening
• Establish rapport
• Agree objectives and the follow-up process
• Summarise their agreed position to date
Negotiating - Middle
• State your highest objective as a minimum
• Say you have no room to manoeuvre
• Soften ‘No’ with a logical preface
• Use the passive tense to depersonalise sensitive issues
• Use testimonials
Negotiating – End• State price confidently
• Concede reluctantly in money not percentages
• Counter-balance with benefits
• Give only minor concessions
• Test close on concessions
• Make them feel like winners
Last resorts to break deadlocks
1.Make a time break
2.Go off the record informally
3.Suggest someone more senior replaces you
4.Refer upwards on their side
5.Appeal for their help
Closing
• Always
• Be
• Checking attitudes and reactions
Obtaining commitment
• Test close
• Assume close
• Alternative close
• Justify why now
• After asking for the order, shut up!
Ethics
• Provide choices without pressure
• Customers should feel they have bought, not been sold
• Avoid withholding relevant information
• Be open about limitations
Customer care – Incoming telephone calls
• Answer within four rings with a smile
• If answering on outside line, announce ‘Good morning/afternoon, this is XYZ company, Karen speaking, How can we help you?’
• Ask caller’s name, company, contact required
• Transfer: ‘Thank you, transferring you now’
• If the contact is out, take telephone number and any message
Avoid:
• Silences
• Waiting
• Multiple transfers
• Asking people to call back
• Saying: ‘He’s busy/at a long lunch/don’t know where/not in yet’
Focus on the 20%
• Prioritise profit potential per client:A - High short-term potentialB - High long-term potentialC - Low potential
• Follow the 80/20 rule (Pareto Principle)80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients.
Focus on the 20%.
Referrals
Thank them for their business, then ask:
• What benefits have you obtained from us?
• Who else could benefit likewise and why?
• May we say you recommend us?
Surveying satisfaction
• Use feedback from clients to improve your service
• Set targets to assess their delight
• Use simple questionnaires by mail and telephone
• Check key quality areas
• When customers stop buying, ask why?
Defusing complaints – By Letter
• Acknowledge regrets within one day by email, fax or phone
• Give a solution date and stick to it
• Summarise issues and invite reply
• Thank them
• Follow up by phone for final OK
Defusing complaints - By phone
• Listen and stay calm
• Don’t interrupt or pass the buck
• Ask probing questions to verify facts
• Check back your understanding
• Apologise and invite them to suggest compensation
• Agree action and timeframe
• Thank them and hang up phone
Key forecast data• Company name and location
• Product/service to be taken
• Total value
• % probability
• Weighted value (total value x % probable)
• Top signer’s name and title
Key forecast data (continued)
• Top recommender’s name and title
• Date of first visit
• Date of proposal
• Date order due
• Date of next appointment
• Known competitors
Forecasting red flagsEach red flag reduces the forecast probability by 10%:
• Top active decision-maker not met
• Incomplete fact-find on WANTS
• Changes in decision-makers/company structure
• No cost justification
• Competitor’s proposal was submitted before your first visit
• No next appointment noted
Sales reports
• Track your key results with charts
• Share successes and challenges with the team
• Assess your own performance
Produce sales reports that:
• Quantify in numbers not words
• Use graphs
• Essential data only
• Self-analyse
• Trigger action
Activity ratios
Maintain a pipe-line of activities:
• Plot your actual activity numbers
• Insert activity targets
• Plot current ratios
• Examine required ratios
Collecting payment
• The easiest time is at point of sale in person
• Qualify cheque requisition process
• Avoid conceding credit terms
• Collect deposit with order
• Mention penalty of non-payment in letter confirming order
If you experience problems with collecting payment:
• Don’t await call-backs
• Check there have been no service problems
• Escalate to top signer
• Collect in person
• Persist
Managing relationships
• Use case studies as signposts of your success
• Structure:Background scenarioChallenges and opportunities
presentedChoices and options takenOutcomes and returns
• Publish with customer approval
Relationships with stakeholders
• Be inclusive with all stakeholders
• Communicate the impact of the offer:inside your business to service and support
staffinside your customer’s supply chain
• Stakeholders include:customers and suppliersdirectors and staffthe community at large (when appropriate)
Relationships with prospects
• Get to know prospects as people
• Disclose your own values and highlight shared values
Creating & retaining relationships
• Create a keep-in touch campaign
• Organise social events
• Share know-how at seminars
• Forward press articles
Competitors
• Keep up with competitors
• Don’t criticise competitors to clients
• Do ask clients how they perceive other suppliers
Customer partnerships
• Never take customer partnerships for granted
• Always look for ways to add value
• Yesterday’s standard of service excellence is today’s mere satisfaction
• Use the ‘Business Excellence Model’ benchmark
Manage yourself
• Invest in personal and professional development
• Balance life between work and home
• Seek feedback for continuous improvement